Wrench



J. NIELSEN Feb. 9, 1937.

WRENCH Filed Jan. 29, 1956 m mm m E O 0 Wm n m..& A M a &. WM w n fl W/O m Patented Feb. 9 193? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE '7 Claims.

This invention relates to wrenches, and especially to improvements in wrenches of the type having adjustable jaws.

An object of my invention is to provide a toothed adjustable jaw wrench having means to indent the teeth of the jaws into the article to be turned while limiting the amount of such indentation and preventing crushing the article.

Another object is to provide a wrench of said class having an easy, simple and positive adjustment embodying a pivoted and slidably adjustable jaw and a pivoted handle serving as a lever to both grip the article to be turned and to turn the article but having its gripping movement limited.

Another object is to so position the handle of the wrench with respect tothe jaws that, while accomplishing the other objects, the full effectiveness of the wrench may be obtained when the pipe or nut to be turned is in a corner or other position difficult of access.

With these and other objects in view, all of which will more fully appear in the following specification, my invention consists of novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will now be described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side view of the wrench in the position it assumes when not in use.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a view on line 33 of Fig. 2 but with the parts in pipe-gripping and operating position, the adjusting screw being omitted.

Fig. 4 illustrates smooth jaws which may be used in place of the toothed jaws shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The wrench is provided with a lever handle A which is pivoted at I in the lower part of a bifurcated head B, from which projects the upper jaw 2. The lower jaw C is connected to the head B through an adjusting screw 3, the threads of which mesh with the teeth 4 of member 5, which is pivoted at 6 in the head B. The adjusting screw 3 is journaled upon and held in place by pin 1. The shank 8 of the lower jaw C slides along the toothed edge 4 of the member 5, while said member 5 is slidably mounted within the guideway 9 in the lower jaw C.

A spring Ill, pivoted at H between the furcations of head B presses against shank 8 as at I2 and against the extension l3 of handle A, being seated in notch M in said extension as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Spring pit I5 is provided in the head of handle A to permit the end of spring I to project thereinto.

-The head of handle A is formed into a cam l6 for contact with shank 8 as hereinafter described. The furcations of head B are provided with stops i1 and I8 for limiting the movement of pin l9 and thereby limiting the movement of handle A, in which pin I9 is mounted, relative to head B.

Spring I8 normally holds handle A in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 with pin l9 against stop I! and also normally holds shank 8 and its associated parts, including jaw C, in forward position 10 shown in Fig. 1. Shank 8 may be retracted against the pressure of spring l0 by pulling on trigger 8a thus drawing the jaw C down and back and opening the jaws for reception of the article to be turned. 5

When handle A is raised spring ||l slides in notch M and the end of spring l0 projects into spring pit I 5. The movement of handle A in this direction is limited by the contact of pin IS with stop l8. This is the position which the handle assumes in operation, regardless of the size of the work being handled. The cam I6 being forced against the shank8 forces the jaws together to a pre-determined amount, as shown in Fig. 3, indenting the teeth 20, of both upper and lower jaws, into the pipe 2| (shown for .illustrative purposes only) the required amount at which point the pin l9 contacts stop l8 and prevents further movement in that direction, of handle A relative to the jaws. Further movement of handle A in that direction will exert only a turning force, not a crushing force, on pipe 2| Reverse movement of handle A will, of course, release the grip of the jaws on pipe 2|. The wrench may be provided with smooth jaws as illustrated in Fig. 4. Such modification is for use on flat sided articles such as nuts, where there will be no need for indentation of the jaws into the article, in order to grip the same for turning. In such case there is little danger of crushing the article to be turned so the adjustment of the jaws to the article may be either such as to allow pin I9 to bear against stop l8 or such that the jaws will finally grip the article and thereby stop movement of handle A relative to the jaws before pin I9 has reached stop I8. In this latter case the turning action of the wrench upon the article may begin as soon as the grip of the jaws on the article has stopped further movement of the handle relative to the jaws.

It will be observed that member 5 is positioned adjacent the article-gripping portion of the jaws and is connected therewith to positively prevent separation of the jaws by pin 6 in head B and adjusting screw 3 meshing with threads 4; that lower jaw C is strongly reinforced against springing or other displacement by its sliding fit on member 5 and by the relatively long bearing of its shank 8 on member 5 and that by reason of the hooked or curved form of head 13 upper jaw 2 is amply reinforced against springing while cam l6 of handle A mounted in the lower end of head B is in a position behind lower jaw C,

whereby both jaws are strongly reinforced against springing or other undesired displacement regardless of the size. of the article gripped by the wrench.

While a specific form of my invention has been described herein and shown in the drawing for illustrative purposes, it is to be understood that details of form and structure maybe changed within the scope of the appended claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1. A wrench comprising a headcarrying a jaw in fixed relation to the head, a member pivoted in the head, a jaw slidable on said member and having a shank, means for adjusting the position of said slidable jaw longitudinally of said memher, a handle pivoted in said head, a cam on said handle adapted to contact said shankand move the jaws toward each other, yieldable means for normally holding apart said shank and cam and means for limiting the movement of the handle about its pivot.

2. A wrench comprising a head carrying a jaw in fixed relation to the head, a member pivoted in the head, a jaw slidable on said member and having a shank, means for adjusting the posi-' tion of said slidablejaw longitudinally of said member, a handle pivoted in said head, a cam on said handle adapted to contact said shank and move the jaws toward each other, and means for limiting the movement of the handle about its pivot.

3. A wrench comprising a head carrying a jaw in fixed relation to the head, a member pivoted in the head, a jaw slidable on said member and having a shank, means for adjusting the position of said slidable jaw longitudinally of said member, a handle pivoted in said head and a cam on said handle adapted to contact said shank and move the jaws toward each other.

4. A wrench comprising a head carrying a jaw in fixed relation to the head, a member pivoted in the head, a jaw slidable on said member and having a shank, means for adjusting the position of said slidable jaw longitudinally of said member, a handle pivoted in said head, a camv on said handle adapted tocontact said shank and move the jaws toward each other, and yieldable means for normally holding apart said shank and said cam.

5. A wrench comprising a hook shaped head carrying a jaw at one end of said hook and a cam-ended handle pivoted in the other end of said hooked head, a member pivoted in said head adjacent the base of said jaw, a second jaw slidable on said member and having a shank slidably bearing on said member, said cam beingadapted to contact said shank substantially oppositethe base of said second jaw to move the jaws to-- gether.,

6. A wrench comprising a bifurcated hook shaped head carrying a'jaw at one endof said hook and a cam-headed handle pivoted in the other end of said hook, an adjustable-jaw assembly pivoted in said head adjacent the base of said first jaw and comprising a member having a jaw sleeved thereon and a jaw shank slidably hearing on said member, said cam-head being adapted to contact said shank substantially opposite the base of said adjustable jaw for forcing the 

